Situation of Health Undertakings
By the end of 2004, there were 277,000 healthcare institutions in China, including 62,000 hospitals and healthcare stations, 3,000 maternal and child healthcare institutions and 1,718 specialized health institutions or stations. Hospitals and healthcare institutions had a total capacity of 3.004 million beds. Health workers numbered 4.343 million, including 1.892 million practicing doctors and assistant doctors and 1.286 million certified nurses. The country also had 3,590 epidemic/disease control and prevention centers and stations employing 160,000 health workers, as well as 1,270 sanitary supervision and inspection institutions with 27,000 workers. There were 44,000 healthcare institutions at the township level in rural areas, with 674,000 beds and 898,000 health workers. There were 333 counties/cities engaged in the experiment with a new system of cooperative medical and health in rural areas, covering about 106.91 million of the rural population, among which the number of farmers who were actually involved in those trials was 80.4 million.

2004 Evaluation Report on AIDS
The State Council AIDS Working Committee Office and the UNAIDS Country Team in China jointly issued the Joint Assessment of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Care in China (2004), the latest of its kind, on November 30, 2004.

According to the report, national HIV prevalence remained low but clusters of high prevalence exist, both geographically and among specific sub-groups. By the end of 2003, the cumulative number of HIV cases was estimated at 840,000, corresponding to a total prevalence rate of 0.07 percent. By the end of September 2004, the cumulative number of reported HIV positive cases was 89,067, of which 20,786 were confirmed AIDS cases. The significant increase in reported infections since 2002 reflected the more rigorous HIV screening of former commercial blood and plasma donors and injecting drug users during this period, as well as the ongoing expansion of the epidemic.

The report indicates that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is spreading into the general population. There is emerging evidence that the proportion of sexually transmitted HIV infections is increasing and the proportion of female HIV cases has increased considerably in recent years.

The number of national sentinel surveillance sites had increased from 194 in 2003 to 247 at the end of 2004 and 42 behavioral surveillance sites had been established in 19 provinces. More than 400 surveillance sites had been established at the provincial level. The state had ratified and launched 34 methadone maintenance treatment clinics and there were nearly 50 needle exchange and sterilization places. Besides, blood safety has been further guaranteed. The proportion of blood donated by volunteers for clinical usage had increased from 22 percent in 1998 to 85 percent in 2003.

Report of Contagious Diseases in 2004
In 2004, the country reported a total of 3,906,566 cases of three types of contagious diseases, with 7,248 fatalities. The reported incidence and mortality rates were 289.71 per 100,000 and 0.54 per 100,000, respectively, with the death rate standing at 0.19 percent. Incidence and mortality were reported for all contagious diseases, except poliomyelitis. The five diseases with top incidence were pulmonary tuberculosis, hepatitis B, dysentery, gonorrhea and hepatitis A, which together accounted for 85.01 percent of the total incidence of contagious diseases. And the five diseases with top mortality were rabies, pulmonary tuberculosis, hepatitis B, AIDS and neonatal tetanus, accounting for 82.65 percent of total mortality.